[Framers] FrameMaker and Salesforce
Robyn Chittister
rchittister at vlocity.com
Wed Mar 9 14:04:01 PST 2016
Wow! Thank you all for the lightning-fast responses.
What we know about Salesforce doc is that each department seems to use
something different to create and deliver its content. Their developer
docs, for example, are created using Flare. (That's one pro in Flare's
favor.) Their Help Center is based on Knowledge with custom Visualforce
pages. But we don't know what they use to create that Help, which would
really be nice to know.
We are considering divorcing the support and help, creating a Help Center
that does not run on Knowledge. It's just a thought at this stage though.
We're supposed to explore a path with Knowledge and a path without
Knowledge.
If anyone else has any input, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks again!
On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 1:05 PM, John Sgammato <john.sgammato at actifio.com>
wrote:
> In the credit where it's due department, the whole project would have
> failed except for Rick Quatro's scripts and knowledge.
>
> On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 4:03 PM, Art Campbell <art.campbell at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Yves, I helped John put together his solution, and while Salesforce may
>> use
>> DITA for its own doc, to import into the Knowledge product (this is not
>> the
>> parent Salesforce product), you have to package the content in a suitable
>> format for importing into a proprietary database using well formed HTML
>> and
>> package it in small chunks, with a CVS map file, into a ZIP that the
>> Knowledge import tool can parse.
>>
>> It isn't anywhere nearly as easy as just picking the right standard to
>> adhere to and to which to prep the documentation unless you're writing in
>> a
>> database-based system already.
>>
>> It can be done, and John's solution is as elegant as it's likely to get...
>> but it's still a lot of hoops.
>>
>> The real solution is to lean on Adobe to support database export or a
>> database CMS such as WordPress as a Publishing target.
>>
>>
>> Art Campbell
>> art.campbell at gmail.com
>> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
>> and
>> a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
>> No disclaimers
>> apply.
>> DoD 358
>>
>> I support www.TheGrotonLine.com, hyperlocal news for Groton MA.
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 3:47 PM, Yves Barbion <yves.barbion at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi Robyn
>> >
>> > Salesforce uses DITA for their documentation. Just google "salesforce"
>> and
>> > "dita" for more info. FrameMaker supports DITA, and you get enhanced
>> DITA
>> > support with Leximation's DITA-FMx plugin. oXygenXML supports DITA too
>> and
>> > runs on Windows and Mac, so DITA seems like an obvious choice to me.
>> >
>> > Kind regards
>> >
>> > Yves Barbion
>> > www.scripto.nu
>> >
>> > On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 9:26 PM, Robyn Chittister <
>> rchittister at vlocity.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > Hello,
>> > >
>> > > Does anyone use FrameMaker and then integrate that documentation with
>> > > Salesforce?
>> > >
>> > > I'm 1 of 1-1/2 technical writers at a start up that creates cloud apps
>> > for
>> > > Salesforce. We are currently using Salesforce Knowledge to create and
>> > > deliver our documentation. Knowledge is possibly the worst
>> documentation
>> > > tool I have ever used. We've been looking at various single-sourcing
>> > > solutions, and we're down to MadCap Flare and FrameMaker.
>> > >
>> > > I'm a FrameMaker user from way back - I started with FM+SGML 5.5 in
>> > 1999. I
>> > > developed templates and tools for FM+SGML and FM+XML from 1999-2005.
>> I've
>> > > used FM 12 in an unstructured environment, and am happy to see the
>> > > improvements. I'm not sure how many improvements there have been in
>> the
>> > > structured environment, however. I've tried to contact Adobe, and have
>> > > gotten a human being to say he'll give my questions to a solutions
>> > > specialist to answer. Knowing Adobe, I'm not going to hold my breath.
>> > >
>> > > My questions are:
>> > >
>> > > - Is anyone here writing doc for Salesforce or Salesforce apps? If
>> so,
>> > > what tools do you use?
>> > > - Is there a good comparison of the most recent versions of Flare
>> v.
>> > FM?
>> > > The only ones I've been able to find are from several years ago.
>> > > - Is anyone here using FM+XML (either v12 or 2015) who could answer
>> > some
>> > > specific questions I have about it?
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > We're a Mac house, so I can't just download the trial versions. We
>> > > understand that we will need to get me set up with a VM and Windows to
>> > use
>> > > the software we choose.
>> > >
>> > > Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
>> > >
>> > > ~Robyn
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > *Robyn Chittister | Senior Technical Writer*
>> > >
>> > > E: rchittister at vlocity.com | P: 925.695.5710 | W: www.vlocity.com
>> > > <http://www.vlocity.com/>
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > >
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>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Yves Barbion
>> > www.scripto.nu
>> > _______________________________________________
>> >
>> > This message is from the Framers mailing list
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>
>
>
> --
>
> <http://www.actifio.com/> *John Sgammato, Documentation Architect*
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--
*Robyn Chittister | Senior Technical Writer*
E: rchittister at vlocity.com | P: 925.695.5710 | W: www.vlocity.com
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